Strauss’ ‘Blue Danube’ Is Beamed into Space as Vienna Celebrates with a Concert

 Members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra perform "The Blue Danube" waltz as it is transmitted into deep space towards Voyager 1. in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra perform "The Blue Danube" waltz as it is transmitted into deep space towards Voyager 1. in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP)
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Strauss’ ‘Blue Danube’ Is Beamed into Space as Vienna Celebrates with a Concert

 Members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra perform "The Blue Danube" waltz as it is transmitted into deep space towards Voyager 1. in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra perform "The Blue Danube" waltz as it is transmitted into deep space towards Voyager 1. in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP)

Strauss’ “Blue Danube” waltz has finally made it into space, nearly a half-century after missing a ride on NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft.

The European Space Agency’s big radio antenna in Spain beamed the waltz into the cosmos Saturday. Operators aimed the dish at Voyager 1, the world’s most distant spacecraft more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away. Traveling at the speed of light, the music was expected to overtake Voyager 1 within 23 hours.

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra performed the “Blue Danube” during the space transmission, which actually sent up a version from rehearsal.

It's part of the yearlong celebration marking the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss II, who was born in Vienna in 1825. The Strauss space send-off also honors the 50th anniversary of ESA's founding.

Launched in 1977 and now in interstellar space, each of the two Voyagers carries a Golden Record full of music but nothing from the waltz king.

His “Blue Danube” holds special meaning for space fans: It's featured in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”



UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
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UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM

The "Second Heritage Conference," organized by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage has issued several scientific and cultural recommendations to enhance studies on travel literature and representations of the "other" in popular heritage.

The conference held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others" took place at the Arab Heritage Center in the university city of Sharjah, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Saturday.

Participants urged a reevaluation of the writings of travelers and Orientalists using contemporary scientific criticism methodologies, WAM said.

They advocated for analytical comparisons between groups of travelers from various geographical regions and similar time periods to derive a more realistic portrayal and compare it with available local studies, it added.

According to WAM, the attendees stressed the need to establish practical laboratories for translating Western research and studies on travel literature and forming scientific committees to review untranslated travel accounts, particularly Russian works.

Among the recommendations was the proposal to extend the conference from two to three days and to publish the presented research in a scientific book.

They also suggested creating an online library featuring works of travelers and Orientalists, along with a specialized database for researchers and translators in this field.

The recommendations further called for stimulating critical studies addressing representations of the "other" in popular heritage through various approaches, including anthropology, semiotics, narratives, and post-colonial studies.

Additionally, they highlighted the need to examine the interaction between oral and narrative cultures as described by travelers, questioning the ideological and epistemological backgrounds that shaped their representations and deconstructing the positions of self and other in their writings.

"The recommendations from the Second Heritage Conference embody our vision at the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, which aims to establish awareness of the importance of reading popular heritage from multiple perspectives, especially through the writings of travelers and Orientalists,” said Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage Dr. Abdulaziz Al Musallam.

“Through this conference, we sought to initiate a critical intellectual dialogue with these records, opening new horizons for understanding the self and the other, and enhancing the presence of our heritage in the global cultural sphere with a scientific spirit and objective approach,” he added.